Ore-separator



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

A. EMMONS. ORE SEPARATOR.

No. 399,658. Patented Mar. 19, 1889.

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A. EMMONS.

ORB SEPARATOR.

No. 399,658. Patented Mar. 19, 1889.

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Smarts Parent @rmcm ALMA EMMONS, OF GALENA, KANSAS.

ORE-"SEPARATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 399,658, dated March 19, 1889.

Application filed April 9, 1888. Serial No. 270,013. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALMA EMMONS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Galena, in the county of Cherokee and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ore-Separators; and ldo hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for separating orefrom the other materials with which it is commingled as ordinarily found.

It relates more particularly to that class of mechanisms to which is delivered a pulp or slime consisting of ore and earthy material reduced to a pulverized condition and mixed with water, and by which the metal is more or less completely separated from the other ingredients of the pulp mass.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a mechanism embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a top plan view. Fig. 3 is a transverse section.

In the drawings I have shown a main tank or basin, A, which may be constructed of any suitable material and of any required dimensions. In proximity to it there is arranged a frame-work having a top cross-piece, B, and

vertical legs B I) b. Within the basin there is centrally arranged the distributing device, it consisting, preferably, of a cylinder, 0, having a somewhat sloping top, 0, it resting upon and being secured to the base of the tank. From the top 0 there rises a flaring or funnel-shaped mouth, D, at the lower end of which there is a series of perforations, (Z d.

E represents the feed-tube, extending from the mouth D to the top cross-piece, B, through which latter it passes, there being a funnel, F, at the upper end. The lower end of the feed-tube is situated in the mouth D, and is adapted to deliver to it the material passing downward.

G represents a trough or chute, by which a stream of water can be constantly fed to the funnel F.

The feed-tube E is continuously rotated by means of the wheel H and the band I and a driving wheel, J, mounted on. a horizontal shaft, j, to which power can be applied at J.

Below the wheel H there is a hub, K, to which are secured the sweep-arms 7: 71'), these being inserted into the hub and there fastened in place in any suitable way. By means of the set-screws at L the hub can be vertically adjusted upon the tube E, which carries it, so that the sweeps can be set higher or lower, as may be desired to meet the circumstances under which they are operating. To the arms 7.: 7i: are seen red and downward therefrom project the carriers L L. To the lower ends of these are secured the sweeps proper, M M. Each of these consists of a short horizontal bar or arm, m, secured to the depending carrier L, and a web, m, of leather, cloth, or other suitable flexible material. They are so arranged that they agitate somewhat the water in which is mingled the ore and earth and propel the water and earth downward to the outer side of the tank, and the latter has escape-apertures, through which this water and earth can pass, the metallic particles settling down at and near the central part of the tank. These apertures are shown in the drawings as closed by means of stoppers A, which conventionally indicate stop-cocks, faucets, or escape-pipes of any preferred sort.

The mode of operation of the above-described devices will be readily understood. The ore and earth or pulverized material are delivered to the funnel l), and the water is delivered to the funnel F, from which it passes through the pipe E to the funnel or hopper B, where thematerials are mingled together to form a slime. From thelatter they are distributed through the orifices d in fine streams in all directions down the side of the distributor O. The momentum of the solid particles carried in by the water is thus efcentral part of the tank, such arresting and dropping being greatly facilitated by a peculiar construction and arrangement of the distributer C, the mouth D, with its comparatively fine perforations (Z, and the tube E in conjunction with the revolving parts. The

material after it reaches the tank is, as aforesaid, somewhat stirred or agitated by the sweeps, which cause the lighter stuff and Water to move downward to the passage at the end, leaving the particles of metal which it is desired to collect deposited at or near the central part.

I am aware of the fact that heretofore use has been made of ore separators and concentrators of many forms, in each of which have been employed agitating devices arranged to stir the mingled water, ore, and earth, and also that such devices, broadly considered, have been used in connection with revolving water-supplying pipes, and also that use has been made of conical or flaring distributers, upon the upper surface of which the pulp or slime has been usually delivered; but I do not know of any such mechanisms having any of many of the features which I have devised and find to be of great advantage in the operation of the machine. It will be seen that I employ a stationary conical or downward-flaring distributing-surface which is entirely independent of the agitators. I em ploy this stationary distributer in such way that the difference in the specific gravities of the several materials can be utilized without disturbance to produce a separation between. the ore and light material. In the earlier constructions within my knowledge the conical or flaring distributer either has been itself agitated or has had combined with it agitating devices so arranged that the latter act upon the material while thereon. I aim to have the lighter materials flow rapidly over the surface of the distributer and then down the vertical walls of the cylindrical part, while the ore is more slowly passing over the distributer and down the cylindrical part to the bottom, and with as little tendency as possible for the latter to be driven away from the surface of the distributer, but, on the contrary, with as much of a tendency as possible for it to quietly reach the bottom of the tank.

Then, in order to produce a slight agitation of the material in the tank, suflicient to induce the dropping of the ore particles suspended in the upper portion of the mass, but at the same time to avoid a violent stirring of the material at the bottom, and to prevent the forming of strong eddies, I employ a flexible materialas leather or the likefor the agitator-sweeps, which acts materially differently in this respect from the stiff metallic or wooden agitator-arms commonly in use heretofore.

\Nhat I claim is 1. In an ore-separator, the combination ,with the vertically-arranged revolving water-pipe, of the ore-receptacle at the lower end of and concentrically arranged around said pipe, the latter having escape-orifices, through which the water passes first directly to the ore-receptacle, and said ore-receptacle having escapepassages for the mingled materials, the stationary distributer, the tank, and the agitators in the tank and remote from. the stationary distributer, substantially as set forth.

2. In an ore-separator, the combinatiomwith the vertically-arranged revolving water-pipe and the ore-receptacle arranged concentric ally around the lower end of said pipe, the latter having escape-orifices, through which the water passes first directly to the ore-receptacle, and said ore-receptacle having escape-orifices for the mingled materials, of the stationary downward-flaring distributer having its operative surface immediately under the last said orifices from which it receives simultaneously the water and ore, the cylindrical distributer below the flaring part, the tank, and the agitators revolving in the tank and remote from the flaring distributer, substantially as set forth.

In an ore-separator, the combinatiomwith the tank, the cylindrical distributer rising above the bottom of the tank, the downward- .flaring distributer at the top of the cylindrical part, the agitators arranged substantially as set forth, to affect the material only in the tank, the receptacle above the flaring distributer for the mingled ore, earth, and water, and having escapepassages through which the material passes over the said flaring distributer in an undisturbed state, and the central vertical water-pipe having escape-passages,

.through which the water passes first directly to the ore-receptacle, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination of the tank A, the distributer with vertical walls above the bottom of the tank, the flaring distributer above said vertical walls, the receptacle for the ore and water above the flaring distributer, the central vertical water-pipe which discharges directly into the said receptacle, and the agitators arranged within the tank below the flaring distributer and formed with the flexible sweeps M, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination of the tank, the distributer above the bottom of the tank and having a downward-flaring surface, the ore- ALMA EMMONS.

lVitnesses':

W. E. Srrcn, E. F. TUCKER.

IIC 

